This is a true story from a marine chaplain during the war for iraqi freedom. It is an exerpt from the book A Table in His Presence~ Lt. Carey H. Cash








At one point, our CO considered calling in over the radio the three words that no

commander ever wants to repeat in battle - “Issue-in-doubt.” It means, in all likelihood,

victory is impossible; defeat imminent.  LtCol. Oliver North called it “The worst day of

fighting in the war for U.S. Marines.”  At every corner, we were ambushed.  And it lasted

for nine hours.

But here’s the miracle.  By every assessment, during that nine-hour ordeal, our

battalion should have sustained untold casualties and countless dead.  Over 1,000 RPG’s

were shot at us, during a nine-hour ambush, in a city that we didn’t know.  And what’s

more, most all of our Marines were exposed the entire time as they stood in the top of


their armored vehicles firing back.


But by the end of the day, when the smoke had cleared, only one man had been


killed – Gunnery Sergeant Jeffrey Bohr, a 22 year veteran; killed as he was calling in a


med-evac with one hand and firing his M-16 with the other.  75 were injured - most of

whom would go on to experience full recovery and strength.  The fact is, many, many

Marines should have died that day, but it just didn’t happen.7

Now I suppose there may be some who will say, “What a fluke.  You guys just

got lucky.”  But there is no question, if you ask the Marines who were there - they had

experienced a miracle from God!

You see, two weeks earlier, in a service south of Baghdad, I had shared with the

men a prayer that my wife had learned as a third grader whenever her family went on

road trips together.  And the prayer went like this: “Lord please make the driver aware,

awake, alert and aggressive, and surround us all with four legions of angels at every

corner.”  I thought to myself, “What a fitting prayer for our guys.”  So I shared it with

them as our unit continued to move closer and closer to Baghdad.

I never knew how many men would cling to that promise when the rounds started

flying.  Because the next morning after the fire-fight in Baghdad, as I began to walk

through the palace and talk with the Marines, all I heard was, “Chaplain…Those angels,

your wife talked about, those legions…they were there…surrounding us, protecting us!”

“I should be dead Chaplain!  But God was with me.”

Marines shared with me that they saw rockets coming at them literally curve in midair and go around them, or dive down as of they batted by some unseen hand, and go

under their vehicles, missing them completely.  Countless RPG’s never exploded after

making direct hits on vehicles holding 20-30 Marines each.  One RPG hit a Marine

(Lance Corporal Harnish) square in the head.  I don’t have to tell you what it should have

done.  It never detonated…knocked him clean out, but he is alive and well today.  A

Corporal who manned a gun turret on the top of a vehicle, said that bullets were raining

down all around him (He said he could literally feel the overpressure from the bullets

whizzing past his head).  He was never touched and his vehicle was the only one in his

section of the convoy that was not struck by enemy bullets or shrapnel.  That Corporal

was a self-proclaimed atheist.  I talked to him a few weeks ago, and He and his wife are

now looking for a church to attend.

Staff Sergeant Jackaway’s Humvee took a direct shot from an RPG right through the

driver’s side window.  If ever there was a shot that should have killed everyman in the

vehicle, it was that shot.  But when the RPG came through, it hit the inside of the glass,

exploding out instead of in - Not a single man was injured.  And SSgt Jackway just kept

quoting the 91st Psalm.

After the fight, the Counter-Mech platoon took me to look at their vehicles - bullet

holes riddled through the back, shrapnel holes throughout the floorboard.  These were

vehicles that were filled with men.  Not a single man from that section was injured.

And then there was Staff Sergeant Russi.  He had a bullet enter his helmet just above

his right ear, travel over his head, underneath the skin of the Kevlar, only to stop

embedded in the same spot, above his left ear.

At one point, our entire convoy became totally separated and lost, a potentially deadly

situation.  And yet, the Executive Officer shared with me that, in the end, he believed our

being split up and lost actually worked to confuse the enemy.  Instead of one long

convoy, we were all over the place…moving from every direction.  He concluded, the

Iraqis probably thought they were facing an entire Division!

When I heard him share that, I immediately thought to myself how much that

sounded like the Old Testament story of Gideon - God taking 300 men and making them

look like tens of thousands to the enemy.  Our Commanding Officer, a seasoned combat

veteran, said, “There is no doubt, Someone was watching over us the entire time.”

“I should be dead Chaplain!  But God was with me.”

Marines shared with me that they saw rockets coming at them literally curve in midair and go around them, or dive down as of they batted by some unseen hand, and go

under their vehicles, missing them completely.

“There is no doubt, Someone was watching over us the entire time.”

I personally try not to argue about my beliefs because it is as pointless as arguing about death, nobody is ever gonna fucking know so stop wasting your time debating.